Egencia Announces 2011 Mobile Strategy and Investment

BELLEVUE, Wash., March 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Egencia®, an Expedia, Inc. company, today announced its mobile strategy and investment for 2011 and the upcoming launch of new mobile features and capabilities for business travelers and corporate clients.  Additionally, Egencia, in partnership with Business Travel Media Group, today released a mobile safety and security strategies report, uncovering best practices that organizations can leverage to protect their travelers while on the road.

"We continue to listen and support the needs of our clients and their travelers, working to provide the tools and technology necessary to help them maximize time and increase efficiency," said Rob Greyber, President, Egencia. "In today's fast-paced global marketplace, business travelers need immediate and relevant information combined with on-the-go functionality.  Today's announcement is just one step in our ongoing investment and innovation in the mobile space.  We will also release shopping and booking capabilities supported by strong policy management later this year."

The first mobile application release will be available on iPhone and Mobile Web enabled devices in the second quarter of 2011. The first release will include:

• Smart Itinerary: the application follows the traveler throughout the trip, providing information that is relevant to the current stage of the traveler's journey
• Flight schedules and online check-in
• Interactive maps for all trip segments, including specific directions to hotels, and one-touch access to Google Maps search for local businesses
• Security features including, location relevant flight/transportation alerts and other traveler alerts
• Click-to-call Egencia customer service: easy access to get a travel agent on the phone.
• Weather forecasts relevant to the traveler's locale
• Full support for eight languages: US and UK English, French, French Canadian, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch.

"An effective mobile tool puts more power in hands of the traveler," said Mark Hollyhead, Senior Vice President, Egencia Americas. "We had this in mind as we developed our mobile strategy. We wanted to ensure that travelers could easily view their itineraries, get information, shop for air, hotel and car options on demand, and most importantly – do this on the road from any location and circumstance."

The company will be releasing a wide range of mobile capabilities later this year, which will include additional shopping and booking capabilities and additional native device support.

Additionally, Egencia, in partnership with Business Travel Media Group, today released the mobile safety and security strategies report to ensure travel executives and travelers maximize the use of their mobile devices to increase their emergency preparedness. The strategies report uncovers solutions to combat the challenge of locating and communicating with corporate travelers while on the road. Travel managers should provide sanctioned mobile tools in their travel program and encourage employees to use these recommended platforms, tools and channels. Other strategies and best practices highlighted in the report include:  

• For international travelers, ensuring mobile devices function properly in foreign countries
• SMS messaging options if cellular bandwidth is clogged due to an emergency
• Travel alerts via text messaging
• Advanced mobile safety strategies for employees who travel to high-risk countries

Further insights into Egencia's mobile strategy announcement are available upon request.  For the full, Egencia and Business Travel Media Group, Mobile Safety & Security Strategies Report, visit http://bit.ly/eeSTqh.

About Egencia, an Expedia, Inc. Company

Egencia is the fifth largest travel management company in the world. As part of Expedia, Inc., (Nasdaq: EXPE), the world's largest travel marketplace, Egencia helps businesses get ahead by offering the only truly integrated corporate travel service. Egencia's industry expertise helps drive results that matter, delivering meaningful advancements that have a real impact. By combining a powerful offline and online service, Egencia delivers a complete corporate travel offering supported by global market expertise and a best-in-class technology platform.

For more information, go to www.egencia.com.

Egencia and the Egencia logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners.© 2011 Egencia, LLC.  All rights reserved. CST # 2083922-50

SOURCE Egencia

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